22 February 2013

Call for papers: "Shaping Innovation Systems to Address the Challenges of the 21st Century"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Business Innovation and Research.

Firms do not innovate in isolation. In contrast, they belong to networks and systems within which they have multiple and complex interactions. The wide range of actors and institutions involved in business and innovation systems and the way these stakeholders interact, cooperate, compete or complement each other’s resource bases remain a critical area for researchers, business leaders and policy makers alike.

National, regional and sectoral technology innovation systems have received much attention in literature (e.g. Lundvall, 1992; Edquist, 1997; Freeman, 1987; Malerba, 2002). Nevertheless, the changing nature of the business environment, the advent of the knowledge society and the emergence of the open innovation paradigm raise new challenges for innovation systems.

This special issue will focus on the role of innovation systems, examining their features, structures, composition, rules, mechanisms and effects on innovation propensity and innovation performance. Innovation is here considered both as a process and as an outcome and its various forms and extents are considered (i.e. product, service, process, organisational, marketing, environmental).

More specifically, the issue aims at exploring firm-level practices for collaborative innovation, analysing framework conditions (policies, incentives, structures) for innovation, uncovering the role of regulation as a catalyst or hampering factor for innovation, investigating the role of institutions and unveiling the peculiarities of innovation systems and modes in service-dominated economies and in manufacturing-oriented nations, as well as covering and contrasting practices in emerging and developed economies.

We invite you to submit your papers and look forward to receiving your quality contributions. Papers can be purely theoretical or theory-driven, empirical work, either qualitative or quantitative. Submissions from academics, consultants, managers and policy makers exploring innovation are strongly encouraged.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:
  • National, regional, inter-regional and sectoral innovation systems
  • Technology systems
  • Business ecosystems and business models
  • Designing and implementing innovation in service economies
  • Challenges of innovation in emerging economies
  • Framework conditions for innovation
  • Public and private partnerships for innovation
  • Cooperation with universities and research and technology organisations
  • Policies and incentives for innovation
  • Monetary and non-monetary incentives for innovation
  • Open and collaborative innovation
  • Role of regulation in the innovation process
  • Financing innovation: variety of sources
  • Performance of innovation systems (at all units of analysis)
  • Role of intellectual property and informal protection mechanisms
  • Innovation intermediaries and brokers
Important Dates
Paper submission: 1 May, 2013
Reviewers' comments: 1 August, 2013
Revised paper submission: 1 October, 2013

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